World Business Quick Take

Agencies

Sun, Jul 14, 2013 - Page 14

CHINA

Uranium plant scrapped

China has abruptly canceled plans to build its largest uranium processing plant in a southern Chinese city, a day after hundreds of protesters took to the streets demanding the project be scrapped, a local government Web site said yesterday. The proposed 230 hectare complex in the heart of China’s Pearl River delta industrial heartland in Guangdong Province had also sparked unease in neighboring Hong Kong and Macau. Authorities in the gambling enclave had formally raised the issue with their Guangdong counterparts, the South China Morning Post reported. A one-line statement published on the Heshan city government’s Web site said that “to respect people’s desire, the Heshan government will not propose the CNNC project.” State-run China National Nuclear Corporation (中國核工企業集團) and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp (CGNPC, 中國廣東核電集團) had planned to build the 37 billion yuan (US$6 billion) project.

TELECOMS

AT&T to acquire Leap

AT&T Inc said on Friday that it has agreed to acquire Leap Wireless International Inc, the pre-paid cellphone carrier that operates under the Cricket brand, for about US$1.19 billion in cash, or US$15 a share. The purchase gives the US’ No. 2 cellphone carrier a leg-up in serving customers who prefer not to have lengthy contracts. Leap’s Cricket service has 5 million subscribers who pay monthly without a contract. The deal also gives AT&T the right to use Leap’s unused airwaves — also known as spectrum — to expand its network. Spectrum is the lifeblood of the wireless industry and the fight to grab more of it has spurred a recent wave of consolidation. In April, No. 4 T-Mobile completed its acquisition of pre-paid carrier MetroPCS. The company plans to shut down the MetroPCS network in two years, so it can use the airwaves to improve coverage and data speeds.

COMMUNICATIONS

Firms stored data for FBI

PCCW Ltd (電訊盈科) and Telstra Corp, partners in an undersea cabling venture, stored phone and Internet data for the FBI and US Justice Department under terms of a 2001 agreement with the agencies, Telstra said. The pact, signed by Richard Li’s (李澤楷) PCCW after it formed its joint venture Reach with Telstra, requires the Australian company to store billing records for two years, according to a copy of the agreement posted online by news Web site Crikey, which first reported the deal yesterday. The venture also guaranteed it would be able to provide US authorities with copies of stored data, call logs, subscriber information, and billing data, according to the document.

ENTERTAINMENT

Hulu in talks to sell stake

Hulu LLC’s owners are in talks to sell a stake in the streaming service to Time Warner Cable Inc as they seek to create a stronger competitor to Netflix Inc, according to people with knowledge of the situation. An agreement, while not imminent, could be reached in as little as two weeks, said the people, who sought anonymity because the talks are private. Time Warner Cable had previously sought to acquire a 25 percent stake, they said. Owners Walt Disney Co. 21st Century Fox Inc and Comcast Corp’s NBCUniversal on Friday called off plans to sell the service.